Humanization
by Der Traumer
Summary: How Joshua climbed Anna's ranks and why he joined the Fifth Column.
1. I i

**A/N: **If I posted 'Any War..' without having finished it, might as well start this one up, too. It's not the most original of ideas, I know, but I hope it's a fun read. Watch for an homage or two to the 1983 miniseries!

**Disclaimer: **The 2009 remake of _V_ belongs to Kenneth Johnson. I make no profit from the scribbling of this work.

**Claimer: **Elaina and her story

**Warnings **_(entire work, not chapter by chapter)_**:** language, adult content, sexuality

**

* * *

Humanization  
**_**Part 1: You Don't Know the First Thing  
**__one_

_"You've done excellent work so far, Joshua. I'm sure you will continue to do so in your new position."_

It was as much a threat as congratulations, each of Anna's words articulated carefully with a gleaming smile that bordered on predatory. The sentences bounced about in Joshua's head, creating pressure behind his eyes and making him fear, already, the new responsibilities his upgrade from lab technician would entail. He traced the engravings of the badge in his pocket with trembling fingertips.

The cord in his other hand nearly slipped from his sweaty grip. Annoyed, he yanked the cable and wrapped it twice around his palm. The footsteps behind him faltered.

"_Give her to Joshua. As a gift. A token of my appreciation, for your dedication thus far and your dedication in the future."_

This poor human girl was nothing but another symbol of Joshua's sold soul. An infinitely more amusing symbol for Anna, because while a badge was to be pinned to a lab coat, Joshua hadn't the slightest clue what he should do with a girl. Not being high enough on the pay role to merit the luxury, he had never eaten human, and he didn't see himself developing a taste for something that was so similar to his own kind.

He peered over his shoulder at her. She didn't hold her head high, but she didn't stare at the floor either, and she didn't meet Joshua's glance. He supposed she was pretty, small of stature with a narrow waist and ample hips and breasts. Her hair and skin looked soft, touchable, but her eyes, dark and rimmed by thick lashes, were almost too large for her face.

Joshua had heard stories. The parts were essentially the same, and sex with humans was both possible and supposedly pleasant. He snuck another look at his captive, mauling over the idea of intercourse with her.

She flexed her wrists in her bonds then, groaning, rolled one shoulder and tilted her head hard to the opposite side, causing one of those silky strands to fall in her face. She made a soft sound of irritation before blowing it aside, and her tongue darted out to wet dry lips. When she noticed Joshua staring, she narrowed her eyes. He jerked his gaze frontward.

Yes, sex it would be.

* * *

**A/N: **As per standard practice, two chapters up tonight to get started. I'll post weekly hereafter, but can be persuaded by loving reviews to post sooner. Just ask the folks who read 'The Birds'. Enjoy!


	2. I ii

**Humanization  
**_**Part 1: You Don't Know the First Thing  
**__two_

Joshua took her by her elbows and tossed her onto his bed. Her bound hands gave her little choice but to fall onto her back on the mattress. He slung one leg over her and braced a forearm on either side of her shoulders. She stared up at him, impassive. He caressed her face, dragging his knuckles from her cheekbone to the hollow of her throat, expecting her to squirm or snap at his fingers. When she didn't, he followed the same path with the tip of his nose, his shuddering breaths ghosting over skin that smelled of struggle and yesterday's perfume.

The tendons in her neck went taught, then relaxed; her knuckles cracked when she clenched and released her hands; a held breath washed hotly over Joshua's ear, the first signs that she was anything but comfortable.

He moved to kiss her, but she turned her head away so his lips touched her jaw instead of her mouth. When he took her chin in his hand to force her to look at him she resisted. He tugged once more, but afraid he'd break her, when she still wouldn't budge, he let go.

"Human women always fight first," he explained, carding his fingers through her hair, careful not to pull too hard when his fingers caught in tangles. "But eventually," he whispered in her ear, "they submit."

She turned toward him just enough that he could see her skeptically arched eyebrow. "Is that what they teach in bible school on your planet?"

Joshua pushed himself up onto his palms. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nevermind. Hurry up and have your way with me, lizard."

He tried again to kiss her, and this time she shook her head violently.

"The hell is wrong? You said – "

"Don't kiss me," she seethed, looking entirely exotic and untamable with those chocolate strands splayed over the pillows and shading her eyes. "Touch me, fuck me through the sheets, but _don't_ kiss me."

He smacked the bed, and she winced. "It… it's part of the process!" he spluttered.

Joshua deluded for only a moment that his outburst had intimidated her.

"Process?" She choked on the laughter bubbling from her throat. "Process…" she rolled her eyes up to look at the headboard. "God, that's rich." She looked back at him, "Have you _ever_ had sex before? I mean with your own species, even, not counting humans?"

"Yes!" he bit out, face flushing, hands balling into fists.

"Lizard sex must suck then… with its 'process'." She hauled herself up onto one elbow, so she was almost nose-to-nose with Joshua. "For future reference, human sex is about instinct and feeling," she explained hotly, then chuckled, "sometimes, we skip steps." She dropped back onto the mattress wearing a crooked grin.

He was somewhere between embarrassed and outraged. He wanted to smack that stupid smirk away, but couldn't bring himself to hit her, so instead made a wordless angry noise, backed off the bed, and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Joshua expected some last, humiliating blow to be shouted after him, but none came.

* * *

**A/N:** See you next week with updates for this and 'Any War…' and the season finale! Here's to hoping they make Hobbes look like a good guy again!


	3. I iii

**A/N:** Got enough reviews and memos about being added to readers' alert lists to feel inspired to post another chapter early. I realized though, I neglected to mention in the first author's notes the time setting for this piece. This is set a decade or so pre-television series, before the V's made an official appearance to the human race. Hope that alleviated any potential for confusion!

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 1: You Don't Know the First Thing  
**__three_

Joshua exited the bathroom toweling the remaining water from his hair, dressed in lose sweats and a t-shirt instead of slacks and his lab coat.

She was asleep with her knees curled to her chest and her hands tucked under her chin. The cord, still binding them, trailed off the mattress and onto the floor. The braided metal cables must have chafed her wrists horribly by now, and Joshua felt a brief pang of guilt for not untying her then decided there was no telling what damage she would have done the room if left fully mobile and unsupervised.

Currently, she was hardly threatening. Joshua sat behind her, hesitating once before taking a lock of her hair between his thumb and first finger, rubbing back and forth until all the strands fell away.

"What is your fascination with my hair?" a sleep muddled voice asked.

It was soft, certainly softer than his own and probably the softest he'd ever ran his fingers through, not synthetic. "Do I have to have one?" he carefully answered, "You are my pet. I can touch you how I want, when I want."

She sighed. "Pet, huh? That's cute I suppose. Is this another attempt at seduction then?"

"No."

"No?"

Joshua grit his teeth and hissed out between them. "Stop doing that!" he snarled.

"Doing what?"

"That! Echoing back everything I say like it amuses you or you find it curious!" He threw his arms and head up, as though hoping a manual for the unnerving creature on the bed would drop from the ceiling. "It… it's not what you're supposed to do!"

When he looked back at her, she had rolled over and was glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do, then, what earth girls do and don't do. Tell me so I can prove you wrong."

Joshua was silent.

"That's right," she bit out, "You don't know a damn thing about humanity, lizard." She turned away from him.

Joshua's mouth gaped. He eased himself off the bed without taking his eyes off her.

"If you're going to go running away again, at least bring food back this time."


	4. I iv

**A/N:** OH MY GOD! They killed? Joshua (and brought him back to life?, but that's beside the point). Regardless, you can get your fix of him here! Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I'll try for longer chapters, but up through like… eleven is already blocked out (yeah, I know, I'm slow at posting), but after that I'll try and lengthen things.

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 1: You Don't Know the First Thing  
**__four_

"What is that?" All the color drained from her face when Joshua set the tray on the bedside table.

"Some earth rodent… guinea pig maybe?" He pulled a pair of wire cutters out of his pocket. "Give me your hands." She stretched her wrists out in front of her without looking away from her meal.

Beside the tray on the nightstand was his notepad. When she was free she took its stylus, and before Joshua could stop her, prodded the lump of meat. Blood splooshed out, adding to the already existent puddle. "Is it cooked at all?"

He took the stylus from her and handed her a fork instead, grimacing before wiping the electric pen on his pant leg. "No, of course not."

If such a thing was possible, she got paler. "I can't eat that," she told him with a single, slow shake of her head.

Joshua sighed. "It's not my preference either, but it's all they're serving today."

"I'll get sick. I really can't eat that. I'll be puking for days."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Idiot lizard, I'm a human remember? Raw meat and human stomachs don't get along. God only knows what diseases are crawling around in there," she jabbed an accusing finger at the guinea pig, "waiting to devour my insides."

This lovely mental image turned Joshua a color similar to that of his captive. "What do you suggest then?"

"Cook it."

"That's disgusting."

"_That's_ disgusting." She shook her still pointing finger.

Joshua sighed again. "How?"

"How what?" She cocked her head to one side.

Joshua pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "How do I cook it?"

"Uhm…" She clasped her ankles and tilted her head to the other side. "Heat it up a lot. Until the outside and most of the inside gets dark. We, like humans, use ovens, but I doubt you have one of those."

"Never so much as heard of them."

She shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. All you really need is a flame."

**

* * *

A/N:** This is getting tons of hits (yay!) but not nearly enough reviews. Please tell me what you like (or don't like) or at least add me to your alerts, my dearest readers, so I know who you are.


	5. I v

**A/N:** Thank you for all the lovely reviews. So glad so many readers are enjoying / interested in the piece. I didn't realize there would be such an interest in how Joshua cooked the guinea pig… or I would have written about it in this chapter (remember… I'm dreadfully slow at posting, so this has been written a little while). I shall make an effort to reference Joshua's cooking in a later scene, promise.

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 1: You Don't Know the First Thing  
**__five_

The first bite of what could best be described as charred guinea pig took her some three minutes to chew. She grimaced before swallowing, and after a large gulp of water announced, "Lizard, I think I'm going to teach – "

"Could you stop calling me that?" he snapped, dropping his head into his hands and working his temples.

"Wha – oh, sure." She sawed another piece off the guinea pig and stopped with it half way to her mouth when he continued.

"My name is Joshua."

"Joshua, then," she said much more subdued than initially, "I'm going to teach you how to cook." She squinted her eyes shut before popping the guinea pig into her mouth.

"Where I come from, anyway, it is customary to introduce yourself after someone tells you their name."

She set her silverware down and folded her hands in her lap, but said nothing. If Joshua's head didn't ache beyond description he would have felt exceptional satisfaction at having rendered her speechless. "You do have a name?" he reiterated.

"Elaina," she muttered. She chewed the inside of her cheek and studied intently the top of Joshua's head. "Sorry, I figured you didn't want to know the name of your next meal," she braced her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her palms.

Joshua looked up at her, eyes wide and mouth open in a startled 'o'. Tufts of hair stuck out at odd angles from his head where he'd been rubbing. Had they been discussing anything else, it would have been comical. "Who said I was going to eat you?"

"Isn't that how this 'gifting' of human females works? First she's a sex doll and then she's lunch?" Elaina sighed. "I was at least hoping for decent sex first."

Joshua was appalled. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not going to eat you, and I… I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't worry about it," she grumbled with a one-shouldered shrug. "It's part of the…" she cocked her head to one side, searching for the word, "the process."

He shook his head. "You're wrong." She had to be.

"I am?" She quirked up that ever-irritating eyebrow.

"Yes! Don't do that! You don't know anything about us!"

She blinked twice and winced, for the first time appearing startled.

_End Part 1  
_

**

* * *

A/N: **Forgive some shameless self advertising, but when you're done here, it would be lovely if you checked out my other piece in this archive: "Any War but This One", a more dramatic, angsty, (later to have a better sex scene) Hobbes centric story.


	6. II i

**A/N:** This chapter is sort of accidentally longer than the previous chapters. There are still a few more short ones left, but I'm doing my best to lengthen things up. Thanks for reading, especially y'all who leave reviews.

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 2: The First Thing  
**__one__**  
**_  
The bathroom was dark, but Joshua could hear the sounds of retching. He threw back the blankets and got out of bed. The recliner in the corner where Elaina'd been sleeping was empty. He sighed.

When he flicked on the bathroom light, he found her sprawled on the floor in front of the toilet.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm alright."

He squatted beside her, took her by her shoulders, and dragged her up so she was propped against his chest.

"I said I was fine."

"I don't want you vomiting on the carpet." He reached up and took a damp cloth off the edge of the sink to wipe her forehead. He barely brushed an eyebrow when she took it from him to wash her face herself.

"I must not have cooked your food long enough. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry – " Her chest suddenly heaved and she used his thigh as leverage to get to her knees, then held onto the toilet bowl while she lost the remains of her stomach contents.

When she was finished she groped for the washcloth, swiping it across her mouth and chin before wriggling her feet out from under her. Joshua caught her before she could tumble onto her back.

"Don't worry about me," she rasped, cleared her throat, then continued. "Really, I'm good. 'S just food poisoning."

"You almost cracked your skull on the towel cabinet."

She arched her throat to look upside down over his shoulder. "Well, damn… Nice catch then, liz – Joshua."

She was tense with residual nausea. Her breathing was still ragged. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Elaina slumped against him.

"Do you think you're done for a little while?"

"Sure, I hope so."

"Can I leave you for a moment?"

"Didn't even have to ask," she answered tiredly. She hauled herself off of him and sat cross-legged, hunched forward with her elbows on her knees.

Joshua stopped in the doorway to check that she hadn't collapsed. Elaina was watching him over her shoulder. She made a shooing gesture when she saw he'd paused.

The bottle he wanted was just on his nightstand, and she was still staring at the doorway when he returned. He unscrewed the cap and poured two tablets into his palm. "These should help your stomach," he offered them to Elaina.

She wrinkled her nose. "Human, remember?"

"Tums," he answered, "a stomach remedy borrowed from your planet."

A range of expressions flickered across her face before she settled on a grin and accepted the medicine. "That's kind of funny. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

He stood awkwardly over her for a few silent minutes.

"You can leave – "

"Would you like help – "

Both spoke at the same moment, stopped, waited for the other to start again, and when neither did, restarted at the same time. "You first," Elaina finally blurted.

"Would you like help getting back to the chair?"

"No, I think I'm just going to stay the night here."

"Are you – "

"I'm fine." She smiled and settled herself against the towel cabinet, closing her eyes when she was comfortable. "You should go to sleep."

Joshua started to back out of the bathroom. "Uhm… goodnight then."

She cracked an eyelid open. "Goodnight, Joshua."

* * *

**A/N:** see you next week sometime!


	7. II ii

**A/N: **I'm back. I know it's short, but hopefully this one's fun and fluffy enough to make up for the length. Thanks for reading!

**

* * *

Humanization  
**_**Part 2: The First Thing  
**__two_

"God DAMMIT!"

The roar startled Joshua awake. He flung himself upright in bed and snatched his alarm clock off his night table, stabbing the button that lit up the face so he could read the time. It was less than a half hour before it was supposed to wake him.

A dull thump in the bathroom answered the question of from where the swearing was coming. Joshua wondered if all earth girls made such a racket in the bathroom.

"Son of a bitch!" This outburst was followed by a more metallic smacking sound. Joshua decided it best to go check on his captive.

He found Elaina sitting beside the shower, sopping wet, fully clothed, and clutching her foot in both hands while hissing curses and rocking back and forth. When she noticed him, she thrust an accusing finger toward the running shower and snarled, "The _fuck_ is wrong with that thing?"

"The shower?"

"Yes the shower! I was looking for a way to turn the damn thing on and it started spouting fucking ice water!"

"It has a motion sensor… and the temperature is voice activated. As are the soap and shampoo."

Elaina absently rubbed her foot some more. "Oh…"

Joshua put a hand under the spray. "It's warm now. The dispensers for soaps and things are on the back wall."

Elaina used the edge of the sink as leverage to stand. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Before stepping back into the bedroom, he added, "If something else seems to not be working, feel free to ask before kicking it."

"…sure, yeah."

Joshua closed the door and went to his dresser. He took a plain gray t-shirt and sweatpants that would certainly be too big for her and folded them on the bed. The clothes would have to do for now if Elaina did not want to wear her several days old outfit after she showered.


	8. II iii

**A/N: **Sorry, I know it's short. It's the last super short chapter, though, I promise. I finally got the older stuff all posted now, and am working my way into the more recently written scenes.

* * *

**Humanization**  
_**Part 2: The First Thing  
**__three_

Elaina sat cross-legged on his bed paging through one of his textbooks. Another half-dozen, some open, some closed, were scattered around her on the mattress. She must have heard him come in, but she waited until he was standing beside her to look at him, puzzled expression on her face.

Joshua nudged a book aside so he could set the box he was carrying on the bed.

"Is this," she tapped a picture, "what you actually look like?" The simple curiosity and lack of accusation in the question startled Joshua such that he actually leaned over to look at the indicated photo.

"No, that's a much uglier ancestor." He took the book and flipped a few chapters ahead before handing it back to Elaina. "Here."

She wrinkled her nose and frowned. "Looks the same…"

Joshua sighed. "Aren't you Fifth Column anyway? Didn't they show you pictures? Why do you need to be flipping through old school books you can't even read?"

"I guess I was just too newly inducted a member to be shown pictures," Elaina bristled. She collected the books into a pile and shoved them back onto the shelf before stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

Joshua swore. He'd been planning to take the shower he hadn't gotten to take that morning and was beginning to fear that the introduction of the human female into his life meant he was never going to get to see his bathroom again.

* * *

**A/N:** See you again as soon as possible! I finally got my True Blood season 2 box set, though, and have been inspired to get back to work on a piece I started over Christmas break. …and then I started a plotless smut piece as well… I need to stop multi-scribbling.


	9. II iv

**A/N: **I'm shamelessly self-advertising again, forgive me. If any of you lovely readers are True Blood fans, I'd love it if you checked out "Virgin's Blood", a sexy little plotless piece written in the spirit of summer time.

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 2: The First Thing  
**__four_

When Joshua returned to his room late in the evening, Elaina was already asleep, curled at the head of his bed with a book, another picture filled medical text, open beside her. He nudged her shoulder, careful not to dump the plate of fruits he'd brought back with him on her. She batted sleepy eyelids at him before sitting up, her hand accidently crinkling the open page of the book when she pushed herself upright. "Sorry," she grumbled, "I didn't mean to doze off here." She closed the textbook and started to slide off the bed. She hadn't even noticed the food.

"I brought you dinner," Joshua said, setting the plate in front of her.

Creases formed on her forehead as her sleep muddled mind processed the fresh fruits laid out before her. "Thank you." She tilted her head up to look Joshua in the face.

"I've been thinking." He had to set the box he'd brought earlier – much to his surprise, it was unopened even after Elaina had been left alone with it for several hours – on the floor so he could sit beside her. "And I think I may have insulted you earlier. I just wanted to apologize."

Elaina nodded, chewing and swallowing a strawberry before answering, "It's okay. I think I probably insulted you, too."

Joshua shrugged.

Elaina ate another strawberry, then picked up a slice of melon. Joshua was still sitting on the bed, watching her. "Want some?" She nudged the plate toward him.

Joshua held up a hand. "No thank you. I already ate."

"I don't want to know what."

"No, you don't. That is why I made the effort of bringing you the fruit."

Elaina flinched. "I appreciate it. I really do."

Joshua sat silently beside Elaina until she finished eating, and fed up with the awkward silence, as she pushed her plate of cherry stems, melon rinds, and strawberry tops away, she asked, "So what do you do, Joshua? When you're not here?"

"I'm a surgeon's assistant, part of the ship's medical staff."

"Ah." Elaina nodded. "That explains all the text books." She crossed her legs, dropped an elbow on her knee, and rested her chin in her palm. "So… Is lizard med school anything like earth med school?"

"It is quite rigorous and competitive, if that is what you mean."

"Yeah, that's what I mean." Elaina smiled, the expression startlingly warm and genuine. It made Joshua's cheeks warm, and he looked away.

"What… what was your occupation? Before you were brought here? I mean… unless, does being Fifth Column constitute an occupation?"

"No, it doesn't." She laughed a little at the thought. "Resistance fighting doesn't really pay the bills. I was a student, working as an intern at an aquarium."

"How does an aquarium intern get recruited to the Fifth Column?"

Elaina grinned, shook her head, and resituated herself so she was propped against the headboard with her hands behind her head. "It's kind of a funny story," she admitted. "I was closing up for the night, and as I was making one last pass by the shark tank, a body dropped into it. One of the volunteer workers thought feeding him to the sharks was a good way to dispose of dead V. Once you've seen a body missing half its skin and covered in scales, you just about have to join the alien resistance."

Joshua's eyes were wide. "That is… not what I expected."

"Being Fifth Column… not really what I expected either."

"You said you have not been Fifth Column long?"

"Hardly a week. As my stellar ability to get caught kinda shows." She slumped deeper into the pillows and yawned.

"You're tired."

"Yeah, a little. My watch is broke." She tapped the glass face. "But I'm pretty sure it's a while past my bed time," she said with a lazy grin before starting to haul herself up. "So I should be curling up in my chair to get some shut eye."

"You can sleep here for a while." Joshua gestured the bed. "I'm going to shower."

Elaina thought about the offer a moment before settling back against the pillows. "Alright. Wake me when you're ready for bed then, lizard." Her eyelids were already drooping with fatigue, so Joshua let the slip of the unfriendly nickname slide.


	10. II v

**A/N: **I'm back! Enjoy the warm fuzziness of this chapter. I'm sucking up because I'm way behind on this piece and I don't know when I'll be back. I've got a 34 hour work week (and here I thought I worked part time) and am working hardcore on three other pieces.

* * *

**Humanization  
**_**Part 2: The First Thing  
**__five_

"I thought I told you to wake me up when you wanted to go to bed," Elaina greeted Joshua when he got back to his room for the evening. She was sitting up by the pillows with the box of her belongings open beside her. The sticky note saying it was hers was still attached.

"I had work I needed to do, so I let you sleep."

"Liar," one corner of her mouth quirked up as she said it, "I woke up and found you in the chair. You sleep like a brick, you know that?"

Joshua didn't know how to answer that. He shrugged off his lab coat and hung it next to the door.

"Hey, thanks for bringing my stuff, by the way. I'd been dying to know what was in that box."

"I had assumed you would go through it." He gestured the bookshelf and the open cabinets underneath. "Like you did the rest of the room."

Elaina stared down at her crossed ankles. "I… uhm…" Abruptly, she reached into the box, took something out, and scooted up next to Joshua. He was sitting at the foot of the bed, removing his shoes. "Do you think you could make this work. I know its earth technology, but maybe you know how to tweak it so the spaceship walls don't interfere with the reception?" When he was finished taking off his shoes, Joshua took the cell phone Elaina was holding out to him.

"This is a communication device?"

"Yeah, I just want to call a coworker and ask her to feed my dog. He can only survive by the raiding the kitchen trash for so long," she said with a wry laugh.

Joshua handed her back the phone. "I'm sorry, but there is no way this will work. Your earth technology is not strong enough to communicate over these kinds of distances."

"How far away can we possibly be?" Elaina asked.

"A little less than two light years by now."

The color drained from Elaina's face. "But… it's only been three days… not even three days! How…" she trailed, then decided, "I don't believe you."

"Our ships travel much faster than anything that exists on earth."

"Still…" Elaina stared at the floor, eyes wide and mouth opened in a startled 'o'. She looked Joshua pointedly in the face. "I don't believe you."

Joshua sighed and got up from the bed, stepping back into his shoes as he did so. He walked to the door. "Come with me."

"Where?" Elaina didn't get up.

"I'm going to show you how far we are from your planet."

Elaina shrugged then slid off the bed and found her own shoes sitting in front of the book shelf. "Is it really okay for me to be wandering around the ship?" she asked before Joshua touched the sensor to slide open the door.

"Yes." As an afterthought, Joshua handed her his lab coat. The oversized garment would hardly make her inconspicuous, but it would draw less attention than the street clothes she had donned upon getting her belongings back. Joshua swallowed hard as the door hissed open. He wasn't actually certain Elaina was allowed to be outside his quarters, but she was "his," and he supposed he could take her where he wanted.

Elaina walked beside Joshua the entire way. She didn't shrink behind him when they left the empty halls of the living quarters and entered the ships bustling main walkways, and she did her best to hide her wonder at the vast corridors with their vaulted ceilings and buttress lined walls, but once, to Joshua's mild amusement, she nearly ran into a someone because she was admiring what was above her. More walkways, narrower than the one they were on, arched over them, carrying V's in their various uniforms all over the ship.

"It's kind of amazing," she whispered to Joshua, so softly he had to lean in to hear her.

"Yes," he answered, "It is." Then he took her arm to lead her down an empty hallway that dead ended in dome shaped observatory. A floor to ceiling window spanned the curved wall in front of them, granting and endless view of black space dotted with stars.

Elaina left his side, walked to the window, and pressed her hands against the glass, hesitantly, like she was afraid she might fall through. "This isn't real." She shook her head. "It can't be. It must be a video of some kind."

Joshua's eyebrows wrinkled together above the bridge of his nose. Elaina had been so accepting of everything thus far, he wasn't sure how to handle her blatant denial now. "No," he came up beside her and pointed to the brightest star in the twinkling sea. "That is Proxima Centauri, the star closest to earth. Clearly, it is much brighter now than it would be if we were still on your planet."

Elaina turned just her head to look at him. "Clearly," she echoed sarcastically.

The human girl made Joshua want to shout and stomp his feet like a child, but he resisted. "I do not understand your disbelief. I have no reason to lie."

Elaina sighed, "I know." It was only then that Joshua noticed the glazed look of her eyes and the water welling up in them. She wiped away the first droplets to roll down her cheeks. Tears, his mind supplied for him. Joshua found himself more uncomfortable than he had been when she was arguing with him.

"You should not cry," he told her. "It could draw attention to your being human."

Elaina managed a humorless chuckle and continued to try and brush the tears away. "Easy for you to say, lizard. You didn't just realize you were never going home." She dropped her forehead against the glass and started to sob.

Joshua took a step toward her, hoping to hide her from anyone who might glance down the hall and see them. He stumbled when she threw herself against him, pressing her face into his chest and fisting her hands in his shirt. He reached for her unconsciously, realized what he was doing, and then froze with his hands hovering above her shoulder blades.

"You wanna know something stupid?"

Joshua did not, but he didn't think saying so was appropriate, so he waited silently for her to continue.

"I can't stop worrying about my dog. Who's gonna feed him, take care of him, wake him up when he makes that squeaky noise 'cuz he's having a dream. It's ridiculous," she said, swiping a hand across her a face. "I'm supposed to be sad that I'm never going to see _people _again, right?" She pushed away from him some so she could look him in the face. It put her back flush with his palms, but she didn't notice, just stared imploring up at him.

"I…" he stammered, "I don't know." He wished he did. He wanted badly to have an answer, any answer that would make her stop crying.

Elaina took a deep breath, leaned into him again, and wrapped her arms around his waist before speaking. "That's right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

Joshua felt frustrated heat rush to his cheeks. Nothing in her tone had been bitter, but the words stung all the same.

Elaina inhaled slowly, and by now Joshua recognized the measured breaths as a means of calming herself. "Let me explain," she said, voice a little hoarse. "Humans form attachments to other humans, brothers, sisters, parents, spouses, or they're supposed to anyway."

This Joshua did know. He had studied it, but he let her keep talking anyway.

"It just seems sort of tragic, I guess, that I don't have any of those attachments to miss. Just my dog." She squeezed him tighter. Joshua realized the physical contact with him was also comforting to Elaina, and so allowed himself to put his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm sure you have someone." It was a fact about humans, one the V's often exploited, not a point of consolation.

"Nope," she answered, "not that I can think of."

Joshua rested his chin on the top of her head, pondering. They stood like that until Elaina had composed herself enough to walk back to his room.


End file.
